Turkey will send its first deployment of peacekeepers to Lebanon next week by dispatching about 260 soldiers to join the international force, private NTV television reported on Thursday. The Turkish troops would be the first Muslim forces to deploy in Lebanon as part of the expanded U.N. peacekeeping operation there. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry would not immediately confirm the report, saying evaluations were still under way for the deployment. Turkish military officials were not immediately available for comment. The engineer company of around 260 soldiers was expected to fly to Lebanon from Ankara on Tuesday, NTV said. Turkey was not expected to offer more land forces, but NTV said a Turkish frigate will depart on Friday to join international naval forces off the Lebanese coast. The Turkish contingent will deploy outside the port of Tyre and help rebuild damaged bridges or roads, NTV said. The area is about 12 miles north of the Lebanese-Israeli border. ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

A 22-hour standoff between Indian security forces and a group of heavily-armed militants ended Thursday morning, leaving a total of seven police officers, one civilian and two militants dead, police said. "During the mopping up operations after the two holed up militants were killed this morning we have recovered five more bodies from inside the hotel building," said Farooq Ahmad, the deputy inspector general of police. The recovered bodies were found after a "fierce gun battle" fought between the militants, police officers and CRPF (central reserve police force) troopers, Ahmad said. Three other police officers were killed during earlier shootouts with the militants. Approximately 16 people, including 11 police officers, sustained injuries and were treated at the city's main hospital. The standoff began Wednesday after militants opened fire and threw grenades at a guard post outside a makeshift battalion headquarters of the Indian paramilitary CRPF, before fleeing the scene, ...http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/05/kashmir.violence/index.html?section=cnn_world

The FBI will interview a top congressional aide Thursday, the day after he resigned and said he had warned House leaders about Rep. Mark Foley's contacts with teenage pages before 2005, the aide's lawyer said.Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee held a closed-door session to try to determine when the congressional leadership became aware of Foley's inappropriate contacts with pages and whether the leaders acted to stem the behavior. Kirk Fordham, who resigned as chief of staff to Republican Rep. Tom Reynolds, will be questioned in the FBI's investigation into Foley's sexually explicit Internet correspondence with teenage male congressional pages, attorney Tim Heaphy said.The interview will focus on whether Fordham knew of any possible crimes committed by Foley, Heaphy said.Fordham was the top aide to Reynolds and once held the same job for Foley....http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/05/hastert.foley/index.html?section=cnn_us

The criminal underworld in Sao Paolo wields a power that rivals the Brazilian government's. It organizes deadly violence but serves as a welfare state, while the city's wealthy have withdrawn into luxury neighborhoods and feel safe only when they travel by helicopter. Is Sao Paolo a forerunner of the 21st-century metropolis? Elvira de Souza wants to kill her neighbor. She sits and smokes on a mattress in the backroom of her cramped house, surrounded by the stench of feces, cat piss and bean stew, in the favela neighborhood of Jabaquara. She mustn't rush things -- she has to think carefully about her approach. She talks about murder as if it were nothing special. Is she serious? Not even five minutes away by car, two gentlemen stand at a bar near the Congonhas Airport, just off Rua Monsenhor Antonio Pepe. They're in the VIP lounge, surrounded by chrome, glass and leather. Ambient lighting falls on expensive carpets...http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,440983,00.html

A hunger strike by more than 14,000 Argentine prisoners demanding swifter trials has ended after two weeks. It was called off after protesters reached a deal with the authorities, which included the easing of restrictions on early releases. The strike began in one prison near the capital, Buenos Aires, and quickly spread to others in the region. The prisoners maintained a dialogue with officials throughout the protest, and there was no violence. The agreement that ended the strike included a ruling by the highest court in Buenos Aires province that time spent in jail should now count as part of any eventual sentence, Reuters news agency reports. Grinding slowly Strike leaders said more than 80% of inmates were awaiting trial and were demanding that the legal system should be speeded up. Some inmates are not scheduled to appear in court until 2013. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5408488.stm

A British judge has ordered the government to explain fully why it has banned a former Kenyan cabinet minister from entering the United Kingdom. When the ex-minister, Chris Murungaru, was barred in July last year, the UK government said his presence "would not be conducive to the public good". But the authorities have refused to be more specific on the grounds of national security. Mr Murungaru is facing corruption allegations in Kenya, which he denies. He challenged the ban at the High Court in London after the Home Office withdrew his visa, citing his "character, conduct and associations". ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5409210.stm